Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Children of Time is an outstanding Science Fiction novel. For me it harks back to the early days of Sci-Fi: it has big ideas, a grand scale, and it has that feel of boundlessness. More than that, though, Children of Time is a brilliant story with great characters, a fantastic plot, all taking place within a ddystopian future that is eminently believable.

Tchaikovsky tackles big themes in the novel, but never loses sight of the characters and story. Not only that, but it’s bold: Tchaikovsky introduces non-human species to the tale and one thread of the narrative is told entirely from their point of view as a genetically-tailored virus accelerates their evolution. Some of it is downright frightening, and for anyone with a fear of spiders I’d suggest this may not be comfortable bedtime reading. I don’t suffer from arachnophobia, but the author still left me uncomfortable with chapters told from the point of view of giant sentient spiders. And that, I think, is a mark of just how good Tchaikovsky is: bringing sympathy to non-human characters and their struggle for survival when their ancestors are one of humanity’s most common phobias.

There is so much to recommend this book, but if you’re a fan of big, bold Science Fiction then this is likely to be right up your street.

Connie Willis’ Doomsday Book is a Sci-Fi time-travel novel that is set partly in a near-future Oxford University where academics and researchers indulge in a spot of time travel (because why wouldn’t you?). Part of the novel takes place on campus, but much of it also takes place back in 14th Century England as we follow one historian as her jump back goes incredibly wrong. The novel won the Locus Award for Best Science Fiction in 1993, and after reading the first couple of chapters it was easy to see why. The novel is well-written, and Willis weaves together two related narratives with great skill: drawing us into the world of a professor as – mired in academic power struggles and bureaucracy – he tries to work out what has gone wrong with his protege’s jump. This narrative feels like it captures what can often be absurdity in our modern world, where bureaucracy and petty squabbles can hamper progress and cause frustration, and often for the most insignificant reasons.

The counterpoint to Professor Dunworthy’s attempts to locate and aid his protege are those of Kivrin Engle, the young historian back in the 14th Century. We follow her as she arrives, and events begin to spiral out of control as she realises she is not when she is supposed to be. From there it gets worse as illness begins to sweep through her remote part of Oxfordshire, and alone among the people of that era Kivrin recognises the telltale signs of a lethal outbreak that became one of the biggest killers of the era. We follow her as the historian becomes more involved in the lives of her subjects and as hope of rescue begins to fade, leaving Kivrin stranded in a very different world to the one she knows.

Doomsday Book is a fantasic novel, one that draws you in and paints a vivid picture of scene and setting while exploring very different problems through the eyes of the main characters. It is different, too, from many time-travel stories: the author didn’t seek to tackle those questions of interfering with history or the paradoxes that can occur, and instead delivers a tightly-focused character story that kept me hooked all the way through.

Brian G. Turner’s Gathering is a tremendous debut that surprises and entertains in equal measure. I cannot think of many books that outshine their opening chapters to such a degree, but the scope and scale of Gathering means that there’s a lot of scene-setting to accomplish at the beginning. I found the first few chapters a little slow, but if ever there was a book that merits a reader’s patience, then this is it, and that patience will surely be rewarded. After the first few chapters, the pace quickly picks up and the story hurtles along. The plot is great, and full of unexpected twists and turns; the book is primarily Fantasy, but with a Sci-Fi twist and the author blends the two genres to great effect.

The author has a very distinctive writing style that I found pleasingly different to most fiction I read. It took a few chapters to adapt to it, but the author’s unique style adds to the reading experience. Despite being a debut, this is a book written by a skilled writer: there’s humour, action and adventure, glimpses of the world’s rich history, and the pages are chock full of those little flourishes that bring characters and places to life. The cast of characters is rich and diverse, and the main characters stayed with me long after finishing the novel – I already eagerly await the next installment.

This is one of the most enjoyable novels I have read for some time, and the reader’s patience with a languid opening will surely be repaid. After the opening, the plot zips along with short, punchy chapters, yet still manages to be breathtaking in its scope. I would have liked to see a little more description and tension in certain scenes but part of the charm of this novel is the author’s unique style and his descriptive focus on areas that many other authors ignore, and the end result is a novel that is very hard to put down. A thoroughly enjoyable read, and one I would highly recommend.

Kameron Hurley’s The Mirror Empire is Epic Fantasy at its very best. From the opening prologue to the very end, the novel is intriguing and engaging.

The plot was one strong point of the novel, but there were many to choose from: a strong, independent female lead, interesting and well-developed supporting characters, a well-formulated social structure, and an epic struggle between two opposing factions. As well as all these elements, it’s clear early on that the author knows her craft: the writing is self-assured, the pacing is tight – introducing new story elements and characters without over-exposition – and I found the combination resulted in an excellent, absorbing novel that I found hard to put down.

If you like Epic Fantasy, and are looking for something that stands out from the crowd – a book that does its own thing while still being an excellent read – then this could be the book you’re looking for.